A Lesson in Patience
by ChibiKanakoNyu
Summary: Initiative is the hammer-head, made to break down the walls of doubts and inhibitions. But what is it worth without patience as its grip? There are some walls that can't be breached with kicks and swords alone.


**A/N:** This story is dedicated to Lumi (aka **luminoz** up here on FF). I hope it's to your liking, darlin'~

* * *

First kiss.

Two words, requiring not even a second to utter. And one millisecond more was enough to get Zoro and Sanji to be at each other's throats.

Of course, just like pretty much everything else, it was a cause for disagreement for the two. The swordsman remembered their first kiss to have happened during a good old-fashioned mugiwara celebratory party, on probably the most confusing island on the whole Grand Line, a maze of stairs and canals. The straw hat crew's cook, however, had a completely different opinion. Even if it meant pummeling each other bloody for the umpteenth time over it, he would never agree to whatever had gone down on that island to have been more than a 'drunken shitty tumble', as he would put it.

The suggestion of it having been 'a slip of the tongue', instead, would have resulted in another kick aimed at the Marimo's organs vital to perform the act of urinating. And even algae heads needed to take a piss.

No, according to Sanji, that one time didn't count. It was why he had been so utterly shocked at their _real first kiss_ having taken place as it had.

For it had happened in broad daylight and for everyone to see, with even some of their nakama walking in front of them, in the middle of the busiest fucking street of a village they had been exploring. So when Zoro had yanked him close to assault his lips, it had only been natural for the blond to react the way he had. Namely by kicking the damn bastard in the groin, then shooting his knee up into the asshole's stomach, and finally making the shitty swordsman kiss the ground instead with the help of his shoe-heel slamming into his back.

Perfectly normal reaction. Right?

In any case, Luffy, Usopp and Nami, the ones with them back then, had seen nothing strange about the incident, and thus barely remembered the occasion later on. Even if they had had no idea why the two idiots had started a brawl in the middle of the street – which had been all they really noticed. Frankly, they hadn't really wanted to find out, either.

"The hell's with you, shitty cook?!"

"Right back at you, asshole! The fuck did you do that for, stinkin' Marimo bastard?!"

Yup. Sounded like their usual antics. Better tune it all out and just leave them be. As Nami had pulled their cheering captain to continue walking, Usopp had lured Chopper away to follow behind them with the promise of a brand new story of bravery, and the village crowd had gradually lost interest in the improvised entertainment, Zoro and Sanji had had some heart-to-heart discussion. Or leg-to-sword, in their case.

"Huh?! Wha'd'you mean, _what for?!"_ The green haired man had dodged a hefty kick coming his way just in time with the dull edge of Yubashiri.

Sanji had sneered at him, growling as he pushed his right leg down against the blade. His cigarette had stood on-edge in his mouth.

"I'm gonna make minced meat out of you!" Sanji remembered himself yelling. Somehow he could recall most of their fight very vividly.

Zoro had managed to shove the cook's powerful leg aside with considerable strain. He had barely had enough time to pull Kitetsu out, though, before Sanji had quickly put his weight onto that very same leg, and with a swift whirl, had lunged his other one towards the swordsman's head.

The green haired man had been alert enough to duck away by a hair's length, and then, with the blond's left foot still in the air, he had immediately swung Kitetsu towards the right one still supporting the cook on the ground. That had caused Sanji to yelp in pain and lose his balance. Only for a mere second, however. Just until had gained purchase on the ground with his hands, and had unleashed a frantic row of blows for the swordsman to avoid...

They had fought like that for quite a while. If allowed to be dragged out long enough, their fights usually ended with the one trying to topple the other over on the ground until they couldn't move any longer, and that time had been no exception.

Amongst all the grappling and rolling in the dirt, it had been Zoro's turn on top.

"What _is_ your problem, you goddamn curly-brow?!" He had been trying to keep the cook's thighs on the ground with his own, and had pressed Wado against his throat with both hands, still sheathed. His other two blades had been lying somewhere around them, having been knocked away a little earlier.

"Your ugly mug's my problem, you nut-gurgling dickhead!" Sanji had yelled hoarsely, while trying to tackle the mosshead down again.

"Eugh, ow, hey!" Smooshing his palm into the grass-swordsman's face hadn't seemed to work. "It's not like we haven't ki–"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Don't tell me you were too piss-drunk to remember that we–"

"I said shut your motherfucking booze-drain, you fucking idiot!" The blond had tried to silence the bastard with bashing his knees against his back. "I _remember, _okay?!"

"I knew you couldn't fucking hold your– Huh?!" Zoro's eyeballs had almost fallen out and onto Sanji's face. "You do?!" The blond had only then noticed the redness of the other man's cheeks.

"Y-yeah, you shitty asshole!" And soon enough, also his own. Fuck dammit. "That's why this is so fucking embarrassing! Fucking shithead!" He had felt the need to add. Especially as the moss headed bastard had just kept staring down at him with that stupid expression of his that reminded Sanji of an utterly startled puppy.

"So uh..." In the sudden silence, the volume had dispersed from the swordsman's voice.

He had looked like he had wanted to say more. But after a round of wrinkling his edgy eyebrows under his huge, frowning forehead, his skintone plus his green hair strongly reminding the cook of a mutant strawberry, Zoro had merely swallowed. And then had leaned forward to get their faces frighteningly close...

"Nonononono! NO, I said! Get off me, you shitty perverted Marimo!"

That day, Sanji had learnt that he liked to see that expression on the swordsman's face. Even if it had felt quite punchable, too.

And Zoro had learnt the hard way that despite being a damn pervert, Sanji still had had inhibitions.

.oOo.

A kiss. Zoro didn't remember its number in line, but somehow he wished he had.

After tedious time of sailing through thick, gray mist, the crew could throw anchor at a small spring island. It seemed even more tiny under that giant tree hovering over it, its branches heavy with white and pink flowers, sprinkling the lush green grass beneath with soft, swaying petals. Truly a sight for sore eyes.

Off-deck, they all took a few seconds to admire the scenery from a slight hill. Chopper even got a little emotional, wiping his blue nose as Nami leaned down to gently pat his shoulder. Zoro smiled at the reindeer, before he glanced back upwards, and found his eyes stuck on Sanji standing beside him.

The cook had his gaze on the splendor of the tree, and a small smile on his lips. The swordsman knew that expression. Sanji smiled like that sometimes while bustling about the kitchen, humming. Or while taking his first smoke on deck at sunrise...

His hand was raised above his eyes, against the sun that made his hair seem like a part of its rays. And Zoro had never missed the sun so much.

"What the–"

He gained Sanji's immediate attention as his fingers buried themselves in blond hair. He inhaled the cook's startled, shallow gasp brushing against his face, just before he pulled him close enough to taste the smoke off his lips. He smiled against their softness, too, upon noticing the blond's hand touching his shoulder, sliding up to his nape, and...

"WOOOOAH!"

It was the swordsman's turn to get his breath knocked out while falling onto a screeching Sanji, and continuing to roll down the hillside, screaming. They were fighting at first whilst all their yelling, unsurprisingly. Though by the time they started to slow down in the petal-dotted grass, both of them were laughing almost as loudly.

"Oh my, swordsman-san and cook-san are at it again," Robin noted in a tone one talked in about the weather.

"Seiouly, those two..." Nami only sighed, while holding a very excited Luffy back from taking a roll down the hillside himself.

"They sure are lively! They make your heart beat faster!" Brook clutched his chest dramatically. Before he raised both his arms in the air, saying: "Not mine, though, because I don't have a heart! Yohohoho~!"

"Can't be helped," Usopp nodded to himself with a knowing smirk. "Must be mating season. It's spring here, after all."

"OW! So romantic!" That said, Franky pulled his guitar out and sang a love song while sobbing uncontrollably.

"You're heavy, curly-brow."

"What was that? Mr World's Greatest Swordsman can't bear this much?"

"Shut up, ero-cook."

The Marimo's rough hand ruffled Sanji's perfectly aligned hair in a fine mess. To that, he blond half grumbled, half chuckled, and swatted it away, then yanked at the green-hair's earrings in response, satisfied as he coaxed an 'ouch' out of the bastard. Lying there, gazing down on a grinning swordsman in the grass, both their faces flushed from laughing, Sanji learnt how Zoro must have felt doing the same, back then.

After a kiss, not so long ago...

"They're watching..." The chef briefly nodded towards their ship, but his visible eye stayed just where it was – glued to Zoro's silly, blushing face. His smirk gradually softened the longer he looked.

The green haired man merely snorted at that, and when he noticed the blond's eyes falling onto his mouth, his grin lessened into a toothy smile instead. One that made Sanji swallow unconsciously. The cook had learnt soon enough that he couldn't withstand that expression on the Marimo's face. And as the swordsman's eyes fell closed, he couldn't stop himself...

And Zoro finally learnt what it was like to be the one being kissed.


End file.
